The Guardian Swan
by Acacia Rose Masen
Summary: After Edward left her, Bella found two motorcycles that needed fixing up. She went to Jacob to fix them for her. But what if Bella didn't need to go to him? What if she already knew someone who could fix them up? Someone who just happened to be part of the reason her parents split up when she was only three months old. Someone who was doing her best to protect Bella from herself.
1. Waking Up

**Author's Note:** Okay, so this has been bouncing around in my head for a while now and I had to get it down before I forgot it. I believe this will be, at the most, four chapters long. Basically this is set after Edward leaves Bella in New Moon. It's definitely alternate universe. I'm sorry for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes. Also, anyone out there that reads my multi-chap fic, Life is Never that Simple, don't worry I'll have the next chapter out as soon as possible.

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all affiliated characters. I do however own Aria Swan. The text from the beginning _(in italics) _is from New Moon.

* * *

**The Guardian Swan**

**Chapter One: Waking Up**

_October… November… December… January…_

* * *

_Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second-hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me._

* * *

_Charlie's fist came down on the table. "That's it, Bella! I'm sending you home."_

_I looked up from my cereal, which I was pondering rather than eating, and stared at Charlie in shock. I hadn't been following the conversation – actually, I hadn't been aware that we were having a conversation – and I wasn't sure what he meant._

"_I am home," I mumbled, confused._

"_I'm sending you to Renée, to Jacksonville," he clarified._

_Charlie watched with exasperation as I slowly grasped the meaning of his words…_

"_Listen, honey. I think that – that maybe you need some help." …_

"_Maybe, well, maybe if you talked to someone about it. A professional."_

"_You want me to see a shrink?" My voice was a shade sharper as I realized what he was getting at._

"_Maybe it would help."_

"_And maybe it wouldn't help one little bit." …_

_He examined my obstinate expression, and switched to another line of attack._

"_It's beyond me, Bella. Maybe your mother—_

"No." I flat-out refused.

"Bella," Charlie sighed.

"No, just no."

"Fine, then your sister." he answered back.

This threw me off. I was about to answer back when I thought he was going to tell me that I had to see a shrink. But my sister? That was the last thing I was expecting. I had not seen my sister… well _half-sister_ in years. Not since the last time I had visited Charlie in the summer, before my permanent move to Forks.

My half-sister was about nine months younger than I was. She was also the result of the reason my parents had split up when I was only three months old. Charlie had cheated on Renée with some woman and it had ended up with her pregnant. Admittedly my parents had been having their problems since before I was even conceived. Renée had always wanted to travel and live in big bustling cities. She hated Forks and its small town life. So, when my mother found out about the infidelity and the pregnancy she packed up and left taking me with her. Renée was too proud to be caught up in such a scandal and she did not want the pitying looks that would surely come her way from the fellow townsfolk.

I shook my head to clear it and looked up at my dad with raised eyebrows, "Arianna? She's coming here?" Surely my ears weren't working correctly.

Charlie looked me square in the eye. "Yes, admittedly she was supposed to come and stay here a couple of months ago but—

He cut himself off but not before I flinched slightly. I took a deep breath before asking, "What do you mean by staying?"

"Now, Bella," Charlie started sternly, "I know you and Arianna weren't the best of friends when you were younger but you two did play nicely with each other. Granted that you two were the only kids around and both too shy to go and make friends with the kids from the Reservation."

It was true. While I had had every intention, as a child, to never get along with the girl whose mother split up my parents I ended up doing just that. We were both forced to come here during the summers by our mothers. It was the only time we saw each other and we decided we might as well make the best of it. Besides Charlie was right; we were both too shy to make friends with any of the kids around here. So instead we played with each other. And we had even kept in contact, somewhat, over the years. A letter here and there, then random emails to one another telling how we were doing and what crazy thing our mothers had done and had tried to get us to do. In fact, now that I thought about it I had gotten an email from Aria—

My head snapped up to Charlie as I gave him a questioning look.

"What is it Bells?" He asked me.

"Have you been calling her 'Arianna' to all the townsfolk?" I asked back with my eyebrow arched.

Charlie looked startled by my question, "Well, yeah, that is her name."

I sighed, "Dad, _Aria _isn't going to like that."

It only took a second for my dad to get it. My half-sister and I had been given very beautiful names – Isabella and Arianna – but we both preferred to be called by our nicknames; Bella and Aria. Out of the two of us, Aria was the more forceful about getting that correct.

"Well, um… she… hmmm…" Charlie trailed off. My lips twitched briefly. That single movement made me freeze. Was I about to smile? How strange. I couldn't be too sure. I didn't want to think about the last time I had done that.

"So when is she coming here?" I questioned.

"Actually, Bella, she's—

But he was cut off by the doorbell ringing.

"Dad? That's her isn't it?"

For an answer, Charlie got up and went out into the hall to open the front door. I stayed seated in the kitchen and listened as Charlie slid back the deadbolt and the familiar creak of the screen door was made. My throat felt dry and I belatedly realized that was the most talking I had done in months.

* * *

"Dad!" I exclaimed in happiness as Charlie Swan opened the front door of the house he had lived in for the past twenty years.

"Aria, how are you doing?" He asked giving me a one-armed hug.

"I'm doing well. Very excited to be living with you and Bella." I smiled, "Speaking of which, where is she?" I asked looking over his shoulder before turning my chocolate-brown eyes to meet his.

"She's in the kitchen," Charlie said aloud, and then in a whisper, "I just barely told her about you coming to stay… it's been a difficult past four months."

"Right," I responded in kind, "Because of that boy."

Charlie only grimaced in response before telling me I should head inside while he grabbed my suitcases out of the car. I simply handed him the keys to my 2004 Toyota Prius in dark blue, a gift from Veronica Marshall; my mother. I shook my head fondly at the thought of my mom. She was a trust fund baby who had learned the value of hard work early on in life – before she could get her hands on her trust fund money. My mom, unlike her three sisters, had not blown through said money like water. The only time she touched the money was if she absolutely needed too (which was a total of three times) and to buy me this car when I turned sixteen.

I quickly hurried inside and left the front door opened so Charlie could easily get inside. I walked past the living room knowing that the pictures from my dad's wedding to Renée along with all of Bella's school pictures would be displayed on the mantel. My own school pictures I knew were on display in my dad's small office/den on the first floor. I hurried into the kitchen and looked around. Not a thing had changed. The paint on the kitchen cabinets were in need of a paint job, the three kitchen chairs were as mismatched as ever, and the curtains that were once bright yellow were faded.

I turned my head over to the only other occupant in the room. And admittedly, I had wanted to do a double take. Thankfully, I stopped myself just in time and only cocked my head to the side and smiled (hopefully it didn't look forced). For the girl sitting at the small kitchen table didn't look…well. I knew her to be my half-sister only because of her eye color. Both Bella and I inherited the same shade of milk chocolate-brown eyes that Charlie had.

Bella had always been thin but now she looked unhealthy. Her blouse fit loosely on her and her hair hung limp around her face. Bella's cheek bones looked more prominent and her eyes were clouded over, as she gazed at me. No other expression on her face.

It was right then that I decided I was going to help her. This was not my smart, book obsessed, creative big sister. This was the shell of a broken girl. I was forcibly reminded of when we were seven and I had asked Bella to play princesses with me.

* * *

"Come on, Bella! Play princesses with me!" I begged using my best puppy dog eyes. I knew my big sister wasn't a fan of playing dress-up so I kept bugging her hoping she would give in.

"No, thank-you, Aria." Bella replied barely looking up from the book in her lap.

"But why not? Playing princesses is fun!"

"Because I'm not pretty like a princess." She stated as if this was a fact that everybody should know.

I looked at her in surprise before I laughed, "Don't be dumb Bella. You're smart, beautiful, and you love books. You're just like Princess Belle. You even look just like her!"

"So, I'm a princess who falls in love with a monster?" She asked. I sighed.

"He's not a monster; he's a prince who is very misunderstood." I assured her.

"Fine, I'll be Princess Belle. But then, who will you be?"

"Hmm…" I murmured twirling a long piece of my raven colored hair around my finger. "Well, I may have longer hair than her but I think I'll be Snow White." I proclaimed.

Bella laughed, "Well you certainly do look like her," and in a fake, somewhat mystical voice she continued, "With skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony, you are the fairest of them all!" We both giggled.

"Come on; let's go put on our dresses and make-up!"

"Wait, what?"

"Bella, all princesses wear dresses!"

Bella spluttered before acquiescing, "Fine, but I'll have you know this will be torture."

* * *

I didn't realize it then, but Bella had always had confidence issues. I was willing to bet that this boy who broke up with her was the reason for the way she looked right now. Bella looked so broken and down trodden, it was just sad. For that, I wanted to track this boy down and force him to see what he'd done. Maybe even use the pepper spray, which Charlie always insisted that we carry, on him…

"Hello Bella, long time no see." I said. I didn't dare to ask her how she was feeling.

"Aria. It's good to see you." She said, getting up and coming over to me.

She was the same height as me but when I hugged her I could tell she was thinner than I was. At that moment Charlie came in carrying my bags.

"Ari, I'm going to put these in your old bedroom. The one right across from Bells. If you really want to start school today then I think you'd better start heading out. The both of you."

"You're starting school today?" Bella questioned.

"Yeah, its senior year and the last semester plus Dad already registered me so why not?"

"Right. I'm going to go get my bag." With that she hurried up the stairs and out of sight. I smiled briefly at Charlie before he too went upstairs. A few seconds later Bella appeared back downstairs.

"So, how exactly are we getting to school?" I asked, before she could answer I went on, "We could take my car if you wanted. Or we can take yours." I offered.

By this time we had made it outside.

"That's your car?" Bella asked she was staring at my Prius with a faraway look in her eyes and there was something in her voice that I couldn't quite identify.

"Yup." I replied turning away from her wondering what was wrong with my car.

"I think we should take my truck." She said.

"Okay." I replied, following her as she took off towards the driveway. I stopped short once I saw the mammoth of metal that she was in the process of unlocking. "Bella, are you sure that truck doesn't belong in a museum or something?"

Bella froze before turning around towards me and glaring at me. She actually glared at me!

"I'll have you know my truck has character! They don't make them like this anymore."

"I'm sure there's a reason for that." I muttered. Bella raised her eyebrow. Apparently I hadn't said that as quietly as I thought.

"Fine. Let's just get to school. I still have to get my class schedule."

* * *

Aria passed by me to the other side of the truck and waited for me to open the door for her. I did so with my mind whirling. The last time I had defended my truck was to _him._ I dared not to even think his name for fear of coming apart at the seams. It was honestly the last thing that I needed right now.

I easily drove to school. I had noticed Aria glance at the gaping hole in my dashboard a couple of times. It was where the radio that _his siblings_ had given me for my eighteenth birthday had been. Before I tore it out with my bare hands. It wasn't my fault it didn't want to come out. I was glad that Aria hadn't asked about it. She probably didn't want to start something, after the comment she made about my truck in general.

When we made it to school it was still pretty early and I got out showing Aria to the office. Mrs. Cope was there sitting behind the desk, flipping through a magazine. When we came in she looked up at us and immediately zeroed in on Aria. My sister took the initiative and stepped forward to introduce herself while I stepped back.

"Hello. I'm—

But before she could say anything, Mrs. Cope interrupted. "You're Arianna Swan. The Chief's youngest daughter. It's a pleasure to have you come home."

"Yeah, it's nice to be back. I prefer actually to be called Aria." She said.

"Oh, of course. Well, here's your class schedule and a map. But I don't think you'll need it what with the help of your sister here. Also, have all of your teachers sign this slip and just bring it back to me at the end of the day." Mrs. Cope smiled.

"Thank-you, Mrs. Cope." Aria smiled before we left the office. Once we were safely outside the smile slipped off her face. "Dad's been calling me Arianna behind my back, hasn't he?"

"Afraid so." I replied, my lips twitching briefly as she groaned.

"Can you show me to my first class?" Aria asked as she thrust her schedule out to me.

I took the schedule from her and ran my eyes down the list of classes and their teachers. "Well, you don't have to worry about asking anybody where to go today."

"And why's that?"

"They gave you the exact same schedule as me. You're in all my classes."

"Huh. Well, all right then. Lead the way sis." Aria said. I nodded and handed her back the schedule.

We made it to our first period English class with two minutes to the bell. None of our fellow classmates looked up as we entered. They only started to pay attention as Aria walked up to the front to speak with the teacher. She handed him the slip which he signed and they spoke briefly. When the bell rang, Aria followed Mr. Berty to the podium.

"Class we have a new student joining us and she's agreed to introduce herself. I trust that you will all make her feel welcome."

With that he took a step back and Aria took a step forward.

"Hello. My name is Arianna Swan. Though I prefer to be called Aria. My father is the Chief of Police Charlie Swan. I used to live with my mother in Spokane until she was offered a job out of the state. And what can I say besides I love Washington too much to leave." She smiled.

"Thank-you Aria, why don't you take a seat?" Mr. Berty said.

There were a couple of open spots but my sister headed to the one right beside me… the open seat that had gone unoccupied for four long months… I was so consumed by my thoughts that I had missed the fact that Aria was whispering something to me until she nudged me in the shoulder.

"What?" I whispered my brown eyes large as I fought down the memories.

She looked at me with concern for a moment, more specifically at the arm I had wrapped around myself, before saying, "How is it that they can stare at me even though I'm sitting behind all of them?"

"I wondered that myself on my first day here as well. I still haven't figured it out." I muttered back truthfully.

* * *

It was lunch time and the table that I usually sat at was packed with only three seats open between Mike and Angela. My sister and I sat down and the table immediately converged on my sister. Jessica and Lauren were rapidly firing questions at her; Mike, Eric, and Tyler were openly staring at her. The people in surrounding tables were doing so as well. I looked around and noticed that not one single person had even glanced my way. Like I was invisible, faded into the background where nobody even noticed. I glanced at my sister again and even though she was politely talking to people and answering their questions, I could tell she wished they would leave her alone.

And then it hit me suddenly. I turned to my sister who had finally gotten to take a bite out of her lunch.

"What's today's date?" I wondered.

"It's January sixteenth." She replied after quickly gulping down the bite of pizza she had taken.

"Hmm…"

"What is it?" Aria asked.

"It was a year ago today that I had my first day here," I mused. Aria arched her eyebrow before unwillingly being pulled into a conversation with Jessica.

So, I finally got my wish. One year too late.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Okay, there you have it. I know some of you might be like, "Charlie wouldn't cheat on Renée! He loves her!" I know he wouldn't do that. But for the purposes of this story he did. Also the end of this chapter was taken from New Moon and is actually a conversation that Bella has with Angela and I know said conversation happened on the nineteenth of January (Monday) making Bella's first day of school at Forks the eighteenth of January. But I'm taking creative liberties and making Bella's first day of school on the sixteenth of January.

Anyways, please tell me what you think about this chapter. No flames, please. Constructive criticism is, as always, welcome.

~Acacia Rose Masen


	2. Broken Promises

**Author's Note: **I didn't warn you all last chapter, but there are quite a few POV changes between Bella and Aria, that will continue to happen throughout the rest of the story. Thank-you to all who have read, followed, and added this story to your favorites. Special thanks to those of you who reviewed; especially Ninasa1122 for being the first reviewer.

**Guest Reviewer: **You didn't sign in so I'm going to answer this for you here: I wouldn't say this story is going to deviate completely. Some events will be canon; some will obviously change because of Aria's presence. You'll just have to wait and see what happens.

**Disclaimer:** Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all affiliated characters. I do however own Aria Swan.

* * *

**The Guardian Swan**

**Chapter Two: Broken Promises**

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Aria, are you up yet?"

I groaned into my pillow before swiping my cell phone off the bedside table to check the time. I blinked, rubbed my eyes, and checked again.

Nope it still read six thirty-two. Well six thirty-three now.

The question was; why on Earth was Bella waking me this early on a Saturday morning?

"Aria?" Bella called through the door.

"Come in!" I responded.

Bella opened the door looking as worn out as ever.

"Hi, um, I just wanted to tell you that Dad already left for work and I'll be leaving for work now and probably won't be home till two. Dad will probably be home even later than me."

I nodded. Bella had mentioned that she worked at some sporting goods store in town the other day. This, to me, was pretty ironic. For obvious reasons. "Okay. See you then."

Bella shuffled and turned to leave but turned right back around and fidgeted.

"Yes?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow to her.

"I just, um, I just wanted to say thanks. You know, for… for last night."

"Oh."

"Yeah, you didn't have to… to comfort me."

I sighed and slipped out of my warm bed and padded across the room to Bella.

"Yes, I did. Bells, you're my big sister. Whatever you need, I'll always be there for you. Even if you don't want me there, I will be because we are family." I told her firmly before enveloping my sister in a hug. I was a little surprised that she immediately hugged me back. I had noticed that she really wasn't fond of other people touching her or being too near her. She would stiffen and try to make herself smaller than she already was and you could see the tension that was in her face. It would go away as soon as the other person moved away from her.

"Love you big sis." I murmured as I released her from my hold.

"Love you, too, little sis." Bella whispered to me.

"Now get to work or you'll be late. Since I'm up I might as well eat some breakfast and get started on all the homework that I have to do." I made a face and noticed that Bella's lips twitched as she left my room and headed down the stairs.

She had done this a couple of times yesterday. The lip twitching. I was pretty sure that that was Bella's attempt at a smile. I would have to ask Charlie for confirmation. I briefly pondered if Bella had even smiled once in the four months since her birthday.

Then, for about the fifth or sixth time since I arrived the other morning, I wished her ex-boyfriend to know exactly what he had put my sister through.

* * *

"NO! DON'T LEAVE! PLEASE, DON'T!"

What in the world?

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

I shot up from my bed and raced out of the room, only stopping to grab the pepper spray in the top drawer of my bedside table, and burst into Bella's – a billion thoughts seemed to be racing in my head at once. When I saw what was happening I promptly stopped just inside the doorway.

Bella lay on her bed, writhing in pain as she screamed for some unknown person to stay with her.

Well. He wasn't unknown. It was the jerk who left her in the first place.

I felt a presence behind me and swiveled around to see Charlie standing there. He looked grim as he said, "I guess I forgot to warn you about the night terrors."

I snorted in response. "You guess correctly." I looked over at Bella still writhing and whimpering. "She does this every night, then?"

"Ever since he left."

I nodded before setting down the pepper spray and walked towards Bella's bed. I stood there for a moment unsure of what to do before I promptly sat down and gently grabbed a hold of Bella's wrists, which happened to be flailing around.

"Bella? Bella! It's me, Ari. Come on Bells, wake up!"

I kept encouraging her to wake. A few moments later she did so. Bella blinked her eyes open slowly as she became aware of what was going on around her. She quickly sat up and glanced between our dad and myself.

"Bella?" I questioned again.

I was quite surprised about what she had done next. Bella threw her arms around me and burst into heartbreaking sobs. I held her as she cried and comforted her as best I could. Bella eventually fell asleep in my arms. With the help of Charlie who was waiting patiently in the doorway, watching to see how I handled Bella, we got her settled back in bed.

After that we went down to the kitchen. I immediately set out to making some hot cocoa for the both of us. A few minutes of silence later, where we both sat and sipped at our cocoa, and I could no longer hold in my curiosity. Nor my anger for that matter.

"She always cries out like that? Every night, for him?"

"Ever since the day he and his family left."

"What was his name?" I asked. Charlie looked at me questioningly. "I want to know his name that way if I ever run into him, I know to give him a swift kick up the—

"Arianna Grace Swan, language!" Charlie admonished.

"Sorry." I said, not very sorry at all.

Dad leveled me with a look before he sighed.

"His name is Edward Cullen."

"So all this upset over Edward Cullen?" Something just wasn't adding up.

"It's more than that." Charlie said. I could see him hesitating, deciding if he should say something or not.

"Dad, what is it?" I asked softly.

Charlie looked at me and then looked upwards towards the direction of Bella's room.

"It wasn't just losing a boyfriend for Bella. She sort of lost a whole family."

"A family? You mean Edward's family?"

"When Bella moved here she made friends easily enough. But then she got involved with Edward. His adoptive sister, Alice, who happened to be in the same grade as the both of them became Bella's best friend. Edward's adoptive parents, Carlisle and Esme, always invited her over for dinner and included her in on family outings. I'm not sure how she got on with Edward's older three siblings as they were in their senior year of high school and left for college after."

I sighed and took a sip of my slowly cooling beverage. So Bella didn't just lose a boyfriend. It was a whole family. It made a little more sense as to why she was acting the way she was. But wait…

I looked up at my dad, "Edward just broke up with her? He didn't even want to try a long distance relationship?"

Charlie nodded in the affirmative.

"And he's had no contact with Bella what-so-ever?" Again he nodded. "But what about the rest of the family? If Alice was supposedly her best friend, wouldn't she have tried to get in touch with Bella?"

"You know I've asked myself the same questions. I honestly don't know what's going on with the Cullens. I wouldn't even ask Bella about it. I know they say talking helps but I doubt it would work in this situation."

I nodded my head as I took in the information. One thing was for sure, all this only strengthened my resolve to help Bella in any way that I could – no matter what.

* * *

I sped along the roads of Forks going as fast as I could possibly go in my dinosaur of a truck. I should probably have been steering with both hands – what would people say when they saw? I was the daughter of a police officer. But I found that I couldn't really care as my left arm was currently wrapped around my body holding myself together. I had to get home as soon as possible and call Charlie to get directions to the Black residence. How in the world was I going to explain that to my father? Surely he would know something was up. He wasn't the chief of police for nothing. Also there was my sister to think about… Aria would go mental over this.

If she found out, that is.

Oh who was I kidding? Of course she would find out! Aria always had this way of getting what she wanted. If you tried to avoid her or keep something from her or even intimidate her, Aria would just use the same tactics her… 'adversary or rival'… was using on her to find out whatever it was you didn't want her to know.

Maybe I hadn't really thought this out… but it was like it was meant to happen. He broke his promises to me! Why shouldn't I break my promises to him? He told me not to do anything reckless and dangerous. Well it was my life and he wasn't in it anymore. He had no say what-so-ever!

Just as I was finishing this train of thought I had come to park in front of my house. There would be no point in parking in the driveway if I wanted a clean getaway. Unfortunately for me, Aria had just happened to pull up as well. Maybe she hadn't noticed.

Or maybe she did.

Aria had quickly turned off and gotten out of her car and was now stalking over to me. She knocked on the driver's side window rapidly. I sighed before turning the ignition off and opening the door. Aria got out of the way and tapped her foot as she waited for an answer to her unasked but obvious question.

"Hey Aria, I thought you would be inside. Doing homework." I said choosing to ignore her.

Aria made a strangled kind of noise before she responded. "I was. But I finished. Then I decided that the kitchen was in serious need of a paint job so I went down to the hardware store and picked up some sample paint for you and dad to pick out. I was hoping we could do that together. Imagine my surprise as I pulled up behind you to see two death traps in the back of your death trap." She said the last part while gesturing at the motorcycles and my beloved truck.

"Aria, it isn't what it looks like, I—

"It looks like two motorcycles in your truck bed."

"Yes, well—

"You know how dad feels about motorcycles."

"He hates them—

"Exactly! He hates them! How do you think he's going to react when he finds out you have two of them?"

"He wouldn't find out if you don't yell it out to the whole neighborhood!"

"Bella, you can't seriously want to keep these! Why would you want to? They look like complete junk."

"I just… it's just that… I need… I… you know what? Just forget about it. I'll get rid of them." I said.

_I should have known better. Of course he gets to break his promises and I have to keep mine._

"Who gets to break his promises? What promises are you keeping?"

I looked back at Aria in surprise. Apparently I hadn't said that last bit in my head as I thought I did.

* * *

I continued to stare at Bella as I waited to hear what on Earth she was talking about. When she made no move to say anything I tugged on Bella's arm and led her into the house. I kept pulling Bella until we were in the living room. She immediately plopped onto the sofa while I sat on Charlie's armchair.

"Now tell me what you meant about him breaking promises and you keeping promises."

Bella wouldn't look at me as she stared at the blank screen of the television. I was about to ask again when she lifted both of her arms to wrap them tightly against herself. Then she started speaking.

"_He_ promised to _love_ me and to _stay_ with _me_. _He _promised to never _hurt me_." Bella's voice broke on the last two words. She breathed in deeply and exhaled loudly. "When he left me, he made me promise to not do anything reckless or dangerous. And I told him I wouldn't. I promised him, hoping he would stay. But he didn't and why should I keep my promises to him when he broke his promises to me? If I were to promise not to do anything reckless that should be for dad or me. Not for him." As she got to the end of her speech Bella's voice came out in a whisper.

"The motorcycles?" I asked, already knowing what she was going to say.

"Those are the two words dad always uses when describing them." She paused and looked towards me, "It was stupid, I know. I mean, I have no idea how to fix them up, never mind the money for the parts. But they were there and they were free… I just wanted to do this for myself."

I stared at Bella for a moment. It was in her voice and her eyes when she was talking about breaking her promise to Edward. There was this spark. Something that I had not seen since the last time I saw my sister.

"Hold on. Stay here for a moment." Bella looked up at me slightly bewildered but before she could say anything I was racing up to my bedroom in search of a certain set of keys.

As soon as I found them I was darting back down and I was soon standing in front of Bella, who had yet to change the expression of confusion on her face.

"Okay, got 'em. Let's go!" I said, walking past my sister.

"Wait! What are you talking about? Got what? Go where?" The questions came rapidly from Bella, who was still sitting on the couch.

Looking Bella dead in the eye, I replied, "I'm going to help you fix up those bikes and teach you how to ride a motorcycle."

* * *

I sat staring at my younger sister for a whole minute not comprehending what she was saying.

Was she really going to do that?

Before I could question her on it, Aria was once again pulling on my arm leading me out of the house. She paused only to close and lock the front door behind us. Aria went immediately to the driver's seat of my truck and had already started up my ancient truck before I could comprehend what was going on. When had she plucked my truck keys from my hands?

"Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get in Bells!" The younger girl ordered of me.

"Where are we going?" I fired at her.

"You'll see when we get there." She responded.

I sighed before conceding and getting into the passenger seat. Aria took off as soon as I had my seatbelt in place. We quickly drove to the other end of town. Aria took a side street and we went down an old abandoned road to the very end where stood an old three-story Victorian house in light blue with white trim. Aria pulled along the winding driveway to the back of the house where a three-car garage was. From the streets – if anyone bothered to come down this road – they wouldn't have been able to see it.

"Be right back," my sister muttered as she got out of the car with the extra set of keys she had bought along. I watched as she entered through a side door that faced the back of the house. The next thing I knew one of the main garage doors was sliding up and open. Aria ran out as soon as the door was up high enough and got back into the driver's seat. She expertly drove into the garage and parked diagonally, so as to give room to unload the bikes. Not that we really needed room seeing as the garage we were in was huge.

"Okay…" I muttered, trying to figure out where we were. Not even twenty minutes ago I was sitting in our living room opening up to my sister about _him_ and now the both of us were sitting in my truck parked in the garage of some old house on an old abandoned road of Forks. Well, I noticed, I was sitting in the truck… Apparently Aria had turned the ignition off and slipped out, with me being none the wiser. I quickly made to join her. I briefly wondered, had my sister not come back to Forks, would I ever feel this much confusion in my life? Maybe…

Aria was waiting for me, leaning against one of the counters along the wall that faced opposite of the garage doors. I walked straight up to her with my arms wrapped around my body.

"Aria what are we doing here? Where are we exactly?"

"I already told you. I'm going to help you fix those bikes up and I'm going to teach you how to ride them. When I'm through with you, you'll be a pro." Aria smiled so sure of herself. "As for where we are," she continued, "This is my mother's family home. Nobody lives here anymore. Both my grandparents live in Seattle, along with my uncle. Mom has officially moved into her new home in Pennsylvania. Two of my _darling_ aunts live in New York with their families, the other _darling_ aunt lives in California with her family. My grandmother actually wanted to sell this place but my granddad couldn't bear to part with his childhood home. So it's mainly used for family get-togethers. And Dad has no idea I have the keys to the Marshall Family Home." Aria smiled, quite deviously I might add.

My lips twitched again, my sister was definitely a rebel. I realized that I wanted this so much but there was just one thing standing in our way…

"Okay, just one problem. How do you intend to fix the bikes? Or teach me how to ride? Dad hates motorcycles!" My words were coming out fast and I was afraid she wouldn't understand what I was trying to say.

Aria just laughed at me.

"Take a breath there, big sis. I know dad hates motorcycles. My mom respects that. My mom also respects that her brother is a safe driver and would never let me get hurt which is why she allowed him to teach me how to ride. But more importantly she made him teach me about how a motorcycle works and all the technical machinations that go with it before that. And if we get stuck along the way… well that's what the internet is for or we could just call my uncle for help… But I don't think we'll need outside help seeing as my uncle has taught me about all this stuff since I was ten and I learned to drive a motorcycle three years ago when I was fourteen. Don't tell my mom that though. She thought I learned at sixteen… she was okay with me learning but not that young." Aria finished her explanation with a satisfied smile.

I really couldn't believe what I was hearing. My sister was going to really help me with this. I don't know who was more unprepared for what happened next me or her but in the next second I was hugging her expressing my thanks. Eventually, Aria responded by hugging me back and telling me it was nothing. As she pulled away my sisters eyes widened slightly and her lips trembled a bit.

"What is it?" I asked concerned.

"Nothing, nothing. Come on, let's get these bike unloaded over there." She replied hurrying over to the back of my truck. As she walked away I had caught sight of myself in a side mirror.

Ever since he left I had taken to not looking in mirrors. I didn't want to see the plane-looking girl who wasn't enough to keep someone as glorious and wonderful as E—him. I didn't want to see the failure in the slump of the shoulders, the tiredness in the face, the permanent form of a frown around the mouth, and the lack of care in the overall appearance that was sure to be there if I looked in the mirror. But mostly, I didn't want to see into my own eyes. It would be confirming what I felt every day, every night. The emptiness, the brokenness, the aloneness – I would never be able to resurface if I did.

So I had taken to not looking in mirrors. I avoided them at all costs. Nothing good could come from looking in one.

As I looked in the mirror I noticed many things at once. There was the general lack of care, my shoulders were slightly hunched in, and my hair was a mess. But what I did see was quite the shock. Yes, I was still a little tired looking but that was soon being replaced with something else. Something that was reflected in my eyes as well. Hope, I realized. I had hope. With a jolt I noticed exactly why Aria had looked at me funny just a few seconds ago. It wasn't just that. I also happened to be sporting one of the biggest smiles on my face since the day before my eighteenth birthday.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Tell me what you think. Reviews are much appreciated!

**~Acacia Rose Masen**


	3. Sisterly Bonding

**Author's Note: **I'm so very sorry about the long wait! Life just got ahead of me. Thank-you to all who have read, followed, reviewed, and added this story to their favorites!

I'm sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything Twilight or New Moon related. I only own Aria Swan and the Marshall Family.

* * *

**The Guardian Swan**

**Chapter Three: Sisterly Bonding**

"Where have you two been all day!" Charlie exclaimed as Aria and I walked through the door. He was standing at the base of the stairs, arms crossed in front of his chest.

My eyebrows rose and my eyes widened in panic. Great! What on earth were we going to say? We were so dead!

I felt a slight nudge on my back and glanced back at my sister as she came to a stop right next to me. Aria sent me a reassuring look before facing Charlie again.

"Relax dad. Bella and I were at the home improvement store. It's only eight… eight-thirty, Dad!"

"The _home improvement store_?" Charlie looked at us surprised. I guess he wasn't expecting that.

"Yup… when Bella left for work I got started on all my homework. I finished early and well… the kitchen is in serious need of a paint job. Maybe some new cabinets… Anyways, Bells got home early, she did her homework, we had lunch and then we decided to go look at some sample paints." And as if to prove her point Aria pulled out some paint cards that she had in her pocket and displayed them for our dad to see.

Charlie's eyebrows rose as he took in the samples. I had been a bit panicked when Charlie had started asking questions. But once Aria started talking I had instantly calmed down, knowing I wouldn't have to lie.

"I was thinking we could go with some shade of light green or yellow or maybe a cream. Bella actually suggested white, at first. It wasn't a terrible idea but… when I reminded her that hospitals are white she suggested green. What do you think?"

"Bella actually went with you to pick out paints?" Charlie asked, stunned. I couldn't help the small smile tugging at my lips when I saw the look on his face.

"Yes. She did." Aria replied simply.

Our dad looked at me. He really looked at me for the first time since we walked in the door.

And he did a double take, eyes slightly widening.

I knew what he was seeing. The same thing that I saw in the mirror at Aria's garage.

The smile on my face, the hope in my eyes.

"You okay, there, dad?" I asked as my eyebrows scrunched together, as Charlie had remained silent for a few minutes.

Charlie cleared his throat and shook his head. "No, no. there's nothing wrong. So repainting the kitchen, huh?"

"Yup," I smiled, "Go with the green." I whispered as I walked passed him.

"I'm going to go get dinner started." I directed at both my dad and sister.

As I walked towards the kitchen, I snuck a glance back at both of them.

Charlie was looking at Aria with a questioning smile while she simply beamed with pride.

* * *

Over the next several days, both Aria and I would go to school, on the week days, and then from there we would head to the Marshall house and work on the bikes. Well, Aria worked on the bikes. I tried to stay out of the way as much as possible. I really didn't want to impair her work because of my clumsiness. Aria did teach me what she was doing and about the different parts. She claimed it was important that I learned all this. I did my best, I didn't want to disappoint her.

Unfortunately we could only stay at Aria's family house for a couple of hours. We had figured it would be best if we could get home at least a half hour before our dad.

That Monday he had actually gotten home before us and had questioned where we were. While I couldn't lie to save my life, Aria was able to convince him we were working on a project for English and had been at the town library trying to see if they had any useful books we could use. After that we made sure to be home before Charlie because it would save us from having to lie to him.

School was going… okay…

People still saw my sister as a novelty. She was new and from a big city. I guess that's why everybody was so interested in me when I got here. Before Aria got here I would usually just go to school and get my work done. I didn't speak to anyone. And pretty soon they all stopped talking to me; both the students and the teachers. Not that I minded. It was actually at lunch on Monday that some of my friends noticed that I was actually speaking again.

* * *

"There is no way that there were any bears that big in the forests around here!"

Bella and I had barely gotten to the table we shared with some of her friends, just as Angela Webber was telling Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory about what she and her boyfriend Ben had seen on a picnic they were having in a clearing in the woods.

"We know what we saw. These things were huge." Angela said, quietly but determined.

Lauren shook her head while Jessica rolled her eyes. I didn't really like either of these two girls. They could be pretty shallow. Angela on the other hand was pretty sweet and had a good head on her shoulders. She didn't like conflict but she wasn't going to let either girl she was speaking to patronize her. Bella and I had quickly taken our seats and I was about to ask my sister a question when I saw the look on her face.

Bella was biting her bottom lip in concentration. I stared at her questioningly, wondering what she was thinking about. Finally her face smoothed out as she came to a decision.

"Angela's right. We had a couple of hikers in the store Saturday who were also talking about a giant bear, didn't we Mike? Plus our dad has gotten a couple of calls at the station about it as well." Bella directed the first at the three girls, the next bit to the boy sitting next to her that had just taken a bite of his hot dog, and the last towards me to which I nodded in agreement.

Mike, for his part, looked surprised and ended up swallowing his bite of food without chewing, choked a bit, and nodded his head at Bella. He took a drink of his soda and still looking at my older sister, he told them about the hikers and what they had seen.

I looked over at Jessica and Lauren who were staring in disbelief at Bella.

_Serves them right…_

Angela, on the other hand was sending my sister a grateful smile to which Bella returned. If the smile through Angela off, she didn't show it.

Unfortunately for my sister – and quite fortunately for me – due to her choosing to speak, Mike decided to strike up a conversation with her and monopolize her time. Though I think it was worth it to Bella because I overheard Angela thanking her for sticking up for her with Jessica and Lauren. I also heard Angela ask Bella if this meant that she was back, to which my sister replied in the affirmative. This made me forgive her for the stupid stunt she pulled on Sunday evening when we were in Port Angeles.

I sighed as I thought of it. Saturday during dinner; Charlie, Bella, and I had agreed on what color to paint the kitchen (we went with a deep green that would look good in our kitchen, and an off white color for the trim). The next day after breakfast, Bella and I went down to the store I had gone to the day before and picked up the paints and the brushes we would need. We, as in all three Swans, spent the afternoon covering up the floor, table, and counters with newspapers and repainting the kitchen. Once we were finished, Charlie actually suggested we all go to Port Angeles. He had to meet someone there for work, something about a lead on a missing college freshman who was from around here but went to school in Seattle. While Charlie was on police business, Bella and I would go see a movie.

I thought it was a good idea. I could tell Bella would rather stay so we could go work on the bikes but she didn't want to disappoint our dad after how well everything was going.

So we went to Port Angeles. Bella didn't even have to tell me no Romance movies. I kind of already figured that was a no-go. We ended up seeing this really cheesy horror movie that had both of us laughing throughout the entire thing. The movie was seriously that unbelievable. I was glad we did see that movie because it made Bella laugh. I wasn't as surprised to hear her laugh than when I saw her smile in my garage because she had actually laughed a couple of times earlier in the day when we were working in the kitchen.

When we finally got out of the movie we called our dad and told him we would meet him at the McDonald's down the street from the theater. As we were walking, I noticed about four guys outside of a bar; one of them was clearly asleep or passed out drunk, whichever. I rolled my eyes at the other three who were calling out to women as they passed. I turned to Bella to speed her along when I noticed she was more than a few paces behind me and facing the men. The look that was on her face told me she thought they were familiar and she was trying to place where she had seen them before.

Before I could even call her name, Bella was walking across the street towards them. She was halfway there when I found my voice and called out to her. Bella didn't even stop. She walked a few more steps when she paused. I could see the tension in her shoulders. I shook my head before crossing the street to where Bella had stopped. During this time she was actually talking with the shortest – and possibly the grubbiest – of the men.

We, or rather she, didn't speak much longer. After I was able to pull Bella away I ranted at her the whole way to McDonald's. I knew she wasn't really listening to me. I could tell her mind was preoccupied with another matter completely. I decided on not telling our dad what had happened. Bella nor I were hurt. No need to alarm him.

I'm not sure what happened, if it had something to do with talking to those men or if Bella was simply tired out… but that was the first night she slept without screaming.

* * *

It was stupid of me to be here.

I shouldn't be here.

I was going to regret being here.

But… I was already here… so I might as well get it over with.

It was Friday after school and Aria had to meet up with her group members she was working with for an English assignment. Knowing this, we had taken separate cars this morning. And while she was at school, I was parked in my truck on the side of the road just outside of town. Clearly visible to me was the hidden entrance that led to the Cull… their house.

I wanted to come here ever since Sunday evening when I spotted those guys that reminded me of the time _He _saved me in Port Angeles.

The short one reminded me of the ring leader from last time. I knew Aria was mad at me with all that happened that night but she ended up forgiving me the next day. I'm not exactly sure why but she did. I'm glad about that, though. I already had enough on my mind.

Such as why I had heard _His _voice that night. I heard it so clearly as if he was there, standing right next to me, whispering in my ear.

It was almost as if he cared. Which didn't make any sense – _He_ left me.

Maybe I was going crazy.

That didn't seem to out there. I did willingly hang out with vampires that could have easily killed me by sucking all the blood from my body, if they had been inclined to do so.

I shook my head. I needed to get this over with and then get over to Aria's place.

I took a few deep breaths and with my left arm firmly wrapped around my chest, I started my truck and smoothly drove onto the winding road.

I knew it was a mistake as soon as I parked my truck in front of the house but I just had to get out and take a look around.

The front lawn was overgrown, there were weeds growing everywhere and the house… the house had no lights shining through the windows. The general lack of care stung me. This house and the surrounding property looked abandoned… in a hurry. I knew I shouldn't do any more damage to myself than what I was already causing but I forced myself up the front porch steps and took a peek through the dusty window. All the furniture in there was covered up with white sheets. It looked like they left everything behind, just like they left me behind.

In the haunting silence there was a loud ripping sound. It took me a moment to realize it was coming from me.

* * *

I was in the garage working on the bikes, once again, wondering where my sister was when I heard Bella's monster of a truck coming. I smiled; she was going to be so happy when I told her the bikes were finally done. In truth they probably would have been done sooner but with all the sneaking around we had to do and the ordering of parts and making sure we were here at the house to sign for said parts was a lot of work.

We had already decided who was getting which bike. Well, Bella did. After finding out that the black one would actually be worth something later she had ordered me to take it and claimed the red one for herself. She said it was payment for fixing up the bikes in the first place as well as ordering all the parts and for teaching her how to ride when the time came.

I remember shaking my head at her and saying I would have done it anyway. She was my sister and I would do anything for her.

I heard Bella park her truck and jump out of her car in a hurry. I looked up in concern as Bella came through the door with her left arm wrapped securely around herself. I jumped up and immediately went over to her.

"Bells? Bella, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

She shook her head and I lead her over to my car and opened the front passenger door so she could sit down.

"Bella? Take deep breaths, okay. Whatever it is, it'll be okay." I reassured her.

Bella nodded as she did just that.

Once she finally got her breathing under control she looked up at me.

"I'm sorry." Bella whispered.

I could feel my eyebrows rising, "You're sorry? What are you sorry for?" I questioned her.

"I just… for Sunday evening. When I was walking towards those guys… they looked like some guys that Ed—that _He_ saved me from a year ago. They weren't the same guys… but I heard _His_ voice… so clearly… _He _was telling me to stay away from them… to go back to safety. I just…" Bella trailed off as she tried to explain herself to me.

I didn't know what to say to that. She could have been really hurt if those guys outside the bar were dangerous. But why on Earth was she so upset about it now? It was Friday afternoon. This happened five days ago.

"Bella, what happened?"

"I went to their house. I wondered if I could hear his voice again and so I went to his house but…" Once again my sister left her explanation unfinished. Before I could question her further Bella let out a sob. I quickly dropped down to my knees so I could be level with Bella and wrapped my arms around her and let her cry on my shoulder. I didn't speak because Bella was explaining to me about what she had seen at that house.

After nearly an hour Bella was quiet.

"Bells, I don't believe I need to tell you that it would be better if you never went back there again." I looked her in the eye and she nodded. "I also think it would be best to stay away from strange men that you don't know and who you compare to men that you needed saving from." Again Bella nodded when I caught her eye. "Okay then. I'm not really sure about what to say about hearing voices in your head…" I hesitated. Maybe Dad was right… Bella might need to see a professional.

"I do not need to see a shrink!" Bella said firmly her eyes ablaze.

I winced, "Said that last part aloud didn't I?"

"Yes, you did! I can't believe Charlie still wants me to see a shrink. I've been making some progress this week."

"Yes, you have," I rushed to assure her. "I meant before. I talked to Dad a couple of times before I moved here and he told me about possibly sending you to see a professional. But he hasn't mentioned it since I arrived. He actually thought me being here has been good for you. I like to think so too." I admitted softly.

Bella smiled, "He's right and so are you. If you hadn't moved here I don't know where I would be."

I returned her smile but let it fade, "But if you're hearing your ex's voice in your head—

"I actually think that's helping me…" At my incredulous look she hurried to continue. "I mean in the beginning that first week I would scream… all the time. I missed school, I didn't go to work. Then I sunk into this zombie-like state. I didn't really care. I tried, for Charlie, but it just wasn't working. And then you came and you've only been here a week and I'm smiling and laughing… I'm doing things for myself now. Like with these bikes. If I want to learn how to drive one it should be up to me. I am eighteen. A legal adult. And I'm even taking better care of myself. Yeah, I'm still pretty thin but I haven't been skipping lunch and eating little amounts… I'm actually taking the time in the morning to look presentable."

I nodded my head at that, Charlie had mentioned to me the other day that he noticed Bella's improvements.

"The thing is… of all the things I've done; I've never let myself cry over him. In a way that would make it final. The End. And I wasn't ready to admit that after all the times he assured me that he loved me, that he would leave me. Maybe hearing him is my way of dealing with his absence. I still love him. A part of me will always love him. He was my first love after all."

I sighed that was true. Our dad was proof enough. His first love was Renée and he had never stopped loving her. Even through all their fights and divorce he still loved her.

"Just don't do anything dangerous to your health, okay?" I asked.

Bella snorted, "Like having you fix up a couple of motorcycles, so that you could teach me to ride one? Without our father finding out."

"Speaking of which…"

"Yeah?"

"I finished the bikes. I do believe, if you're up to it, we could get started on those lessons."

"More than ready. Let's do this!" Bella smiled happily.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So as I was mapping this story out I realized this story is going to be longer than four chapters. Right now I have a total of four maybe five more chapters planned out for a total of seven or eight.

Anyway, review and tell me what you think!

**~Acacia Rose Masen**


	4. Passing Days

**Author's Note:** Thank-you to all who have read, followed, and added this story to their favorites. And a special thank-you to those who have taken the time to review this story, they really do mean a lot to me.

All spelling and grammar mistakes are my own.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything Twilight or New Moon related. I do, however, own Aria Swan and the Marshall family.

* * *

**The Guardian Swan**

**Chapter Four: Passing Days**

It only took me about three and a half weeks to learn how to ride the motorcycle. Honestly, it probably would have taken me less time than that – Aria was an excellent teacher. It was just that the very first time I tried, I heard _his_ _voice_ again.

Hearing _his_ _voice_ was like having _him_ right there. _He_ was warning me, being over-protective. _He_ was telling me to get off the bike that I would get hurt if I didn't, it was too dangerous. To an extent _he_ was right. I did end up getting hurt – I actually thought Aria would freak out when she saw all that blood gushing from my head but she was actually pretty calm and got me to the hospital in time (explaining the injury to Charlie was easy, for Aria in any case, clumsy Bella at it again). But really the injury only happened because _his voice was so distracting._

It was just like it had been that evening in Port Angeles with Aria. His voice, I mean. So smooth, you could hear the worry and concern it held for me. But that was ridiculous. Ed—_He_ didn't love me anymore. _He_ said so himself that day in the woods…

I shook my head as I thought of it. Aria had ended up being impressed at the speed that I had picked up on learning to ride the motorcycle. What she didn't know was that when I started mastering it, I could no longer consider it "dangerous" which resulted in his voice fading. No more warnings. No more concern. There really wasn't any need to drag it out after that.

Aria and I still went riding almost every day. Even though Aria wasn't fixing up the bikes we still had to be home before Charlie, lest he ask any questions. But I couldn't find it in myself to cut back on riding time. That part of my day was relaxing. Freeing, almost.

Aria wasn't complaining either. She missed being able to ride her motorcycle which had been moved to her uncle's garage in Seattle.

It wasn't like she could bring it here with her in any case. Charlie would have a fit if she did.

* * *

Recently, I had been toying with an idea. I wanted to try and find _our meadow_. I did not know exactly how hearing _him_ worked. Though I did have a theory on that. No doubt looking for our meadow would be stupid. Even I knew that there was a chance this would backfire as much as going to his house had. But I wanted to try. I needed to do this.

The only trouble would be Aria.

I loved my sister. But trying to explain this to her? How in the world was I going to do that? I hated sports so explaining to her my sudden need to hike would be impossible. If not suspicious. I had not told Aria about hearing his voice while on the motorcycle. I wasn't stupid. I knew if I told her, she would go to my dad about this. I wasn't "losing it" and I didn't need anybody thinking that I was.

So I was going to keep this to myself. If Aria thought I was getting over him and I wasn't hearing his voice anymore that was fine with me.

* * *

I turned over in my bed for what seemed the millionth time. I could not get to sleep no matter how hard I tried. The same thought kept running through my head over and over.

_Something was wrong with Bella._

I didn't know exactly what though. She had been acting a bit… off… ever since I taught her how to ride. Maybe it was the fact that she was afraid I would tell our dad about what she told me. I knew that I probably should have told Charlie but... the look on her face was enough to hold me off.

For now.

It was alarming to say the least that she was hearing voices and fantasizing them to be that of her ex-boyfriend. I knew Bella said that she hadn't heard Edward's voice since that night at Port Angeles but I wasn't sure if I should believe her. I know Bella is honest and she can't lie without giving herself away but with my older sister… the thing is, if she's protecting someone then – and only then – she can lie better than a career con-artist.

And she is protecting someone.

Sort-of.

She's protecting Edward's voice that she hears. I knew even after everything – all the crying she did and saying that she was starting to get over Edward – that she wanted to hear his voice. Bella wanted to feel as if that boy cared for her again.

And I honestly didn't know what to do about it.

Should I keep it to myself and continue to help her in the best way that I could provide? Or, should I tell someone?

I knew that if I told Charlie he would send Bella off to a shrink and then she would hate me. And I didn't want my big sister to hate me. I probably had some younger sibling complex where I wanted my older sibling to like me…

I sort of promised her I would keep it to myself and not tell anyone but… I saw the look on her face right before she went off the road and crashed her bike. It was the same look as that Saturday night when she was talking to those guys outside the bar. I knew she heard Edward again. I just knew it. For obvious reasons though, Bella mentioned none of this to me.

I sighed as I looked around my room. My eyes came to a stop at my vanity where tomorrow's outfit was picked out. T-shirt, flannel, jeans, and… hiking boots.

Bella came to me the other day and told me all about this cool place that she had found with a couple other people in the woods. Some really beautiful meadow and how she would like to try and find that place again. When I asked her who had been with her when they found it, Bella said just some kids from the Reservation. No one that I knew.

She was lying to me.

I could obviously tell that she was. But I decided to let it slide.

It must have been another place that she had once been to with Edward. I wondered if it was a good idea to help her try and find this place. After all, she had been torn apart just by visiting his family's home. What would a place that was just theirs do to her?

Sometimes I wish I could just put my foot down when it came to Bella. But according to Charlie, Bella had never been more happier than she was now. And I didn't want my dad to become any more worried and stressed than he already was. So I agreed to help her find this meadow and silently decided I would be her shoulder to cry on if she needed it once more.

I turned over in my bed and saw that it was just after midnight.

"I better get some sleep… we have an early day tomorrow."

* * *

Aria and I had been trying to find the meadow for a couple of weekends in a row now. It had sort of become an obsession for me.

_There was no way that I could have imagined such a beautiful and enchanting place! Could I?_

We had started out on the road that I hadn't been to in close to a year. Aria, who was much better at reading maps than I was, would go over them with a pencil and compass marking paths we would take and had already taken.

To be perfectly honest, I was getting anxious.

_What if I had imagined the meadow after all?_

At that point Aria turned around – probably to ask me something – and must have seen a look of distress on my face.

"Bella? Are you all right? Do you need to sit?" She rapidly fired off questions.

Before I could even respond, Aria was leading me over to a fallen tree branch that was thick enough for me to sit on.

"Aria, I'm fine! Honestly. I was just a little worried that I… wouldn't find this place again." I told a half-truth.

As Aria stared at me, I couldn't help but feel that she knew more than what I was telling her.

I looked away from my sister and took in our surroundings. The forest all looked the same to me. Trees, grass, dirt, mud, rocks… greens and browns mixing together.

It was as I was taking my second glance around that I noticed a sort of arch made of the two trees farthest from us. I stared at it, trying to reconcile this with the image from my memory.

"BELLS!"

"What?" I snapped tearing my eyes away briefly to take in the incredulous look on my younger sister's face before turning back towards the subtle tree arch.

"Bella, I've been trying to get your attention for the past couple of minutes but you were off in your own world. Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I muttered distractedly.

"Okay… maybe we should head back now."

"No!" I exclaimed turning towards her.

"Bells? What is it?" Aria asked. I could tell she was concerned but I barely concentrated on that.

"I think…" I started, effectively quieting whatever Aria was going to say, "I think that we're close."

With that I got up from where I was sitting. I headed towards where I had been staring. Where I was sure our meadow was.

* * *

I followed Bella as she walked away from me. I had to stop as she did just before going through two trees that were slightly curved toward each other as if it was an arch or entry way. Bella took a deep breath before pushing forwards.

In just a moment we were both past the archway.

It was pretty anti-climactic.

From Bella's description I had been expecting this beautiful circular clearing filled with pretty flowers and the like with the sun filtering through giving it a glorious glow of lighting. Because that was exactly how Bella illustrated the meadow to me. But this was nothing as she had described. The grass and flowers here were dead. The sun was shining down so bright it was blinding – and not in the good glowing way – it was kind of stifling.

One look at Bella and I could tell she was seconds away from another breakdown.

She had fallen to her knees and was gazing around the place in misery. Bella was taking deep breaths in an effort to calm herself. I walked up to her and placed my hand on her shoulder.

"Come on. Let's just go." I whispered as I held out my hand to her. Bella grasped it and allowed me to pull her up.

I was already turning away when Bella stiffened, her gaze locking on something in the shadows of the trees on the other side of the meadow.

I whirled around and noticed it wasn't something but someone.

Before I could even make sense of what was happening, the figure moved forward slightly. I was able to make out that it was a guy and judging by his features, I had never seen him before. But apparently Bella had.

"Laurent?" Bella asked like she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.

"Bella?" He called back.

What followed was the most confusing conversation that I had ever heard. Laurent mentioned stopping by the Cullen household and noticed that it seemed abandoned. The scents there seemed faint as if the Cullens hadn't been there for months. Bella was then trying to convince him that though the Cullens didn't live here they visited often and that they were due for another visit soon enough.

But that was impossible. I must have heard wrong. There was no way this guy could tell that the Cullens had been gone for months based on their scents being faint! Right? And did this Laurent guy just call my sister a "pet" of the Cullens. What in the world was up with that?

I looked over at Bella in confusion. It was at this moment that I noticed Bella's eyes widen.

"Bella?" I whispered. But Laurent must have heard for his eyes snapped to meet mine.

His eyes were blood red.

* * *

"How rude of me. All this time talking, Bella, and you have yet to introduce me to your friend." Laurent said in response to my sister making her presence known to him. Or rather reminding him of her presence. I doubt he forgot she was there.

"Laurent this is Aria. Aria, Laurent." I replied. I wasn't about to tell him she was my sister. Aria had seemed to freeze up. I guess she noticed the blood red eyes.

I knew there was something different about him since the last time I had seen him. Well, not something different, he was exactly the same. And that was the problem. When Laurent said he was headed to the Denali coven, I had started to picture him with the same golden eyes as the Cullens – in the brief moments that I even thought of him.

But his eyes were blood red. Not the color of the "vegetarian vampires" that I had – and always will – care about.

"She seems to be in shock about the color of my eyes." Laurent said amused.

"Frankly, so am I." I spoke up, "I thought you had moved in with the Denali coven?" I asked curiously. It was also a way of keeping him talking but I knew I was only delaying the inevitable.

This line of questioning had him pausing.

"Yes. Well, the diet is a hard one to maintain. Especially to those of us who know no other way. It's easy to… fall off the wagon."

"So that's what you're chalking this up to? Falling off the wagon?" I asked, incredulously.

"I happen to think this fate is actually better for you, Bella. I am very thirsty and you and your friend were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. You see I was hunting. I really did not expect to run into you of all people." Laurent tried to reassure.

"What do you mean by this being a better fate for me?"

"You've made an enemy of Victoria. The things that she wants to do to you. To make him suffer for what he did to her. It really is kinder of me to quench my thirst than to allow Victoria to continue her plans."

"But… but… I didn't kill James. I…"

"Your Edward killed her James. Victoria planned on killing the one that Edward holds most dear. And that happens to be you." Laurent explained as if I was a small child.

He was getting bored by our conversation. It wouldn't be long before he pounced.

"I am terribly sorry for this Bella. And Aria." He said finally stepping into the light and letting the sun shine down upon him. Even though we were about to die, I couldn't help but admire the beauty of the diamond sparkle and rainbow effect of the sun hitting Laurent's skin. He assumed a crouching position but before he could move an inch there was movement from the side of us and then five huge, horse-sized wolves appeared and looked straight at the vampire across the clearing.

The vampire that was currently staring in horror at the wolves. It was almost as if Laurent was afraid of them. But that was ridiculous. He was a vampire; he could easily tear those wolves to shred! Right? Taking another look at the fear on his face I couldn't help but wonder if I was wrong. I knew that vampires could kill other vampires but I wouldn't think these wolves capable. Yeah, they were big but surely… they couldn't…

Laurent had turned tail and run. And the wolves followed. They didn't even spare a glance at Aria or myself.

Looking at my sister, I could tell she was shocked speechless – and motionless.

"Come on!" I said to her walking over and pulling on her arm leading her away from the meadow and back out into the forest. Aria blindly followed me, not saying a word. I could feel Aria stumble behind me a few times.

It didn't take long for us – well really it was me – to find a way out of the woods and reach the stretch of road where Aria parked her car.

I started pulling her towards her car.

"Maybe I should drive…" I said holding out my hand for the keys.

Aria snapped her head up to look at me. Her eyes, which had been wide since our encounter with Laurent, were now narrowed. Aria shook her head and headed straight for the driver's side door.

"Aria, I think that I should—

"Oh no. I want us to get as far enough away from here as possible. And Bella you drive slow. So I'll be driving." With that she got into the car and started it up.

"You coming?" She asked.

"Yeah…" I murmured. I quickly got into the passenger seat and buckled up.

Aria revved the engine and took off at once. She was speeding so fast it was comparable to being the passenger with one of the Cullens driving. In just minutes we were parked in the garage of the Marshall house. Aria had already gotten out the car and was actually headed to the main house.

"Aria?" I called following her. She briefly turned and hit a switch on a remote control that was attached to her keychain. The garage door that she drove through automatically went down and my sister whirled around heading for the wrap-around porch where the back doors were.

I timidly followed her. It wasn't my secret to tell but I had a feeling I would be revealing exactly who the Cullen family was to my sister.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm so sorry for the long wait. I'll try to have the next chapter out sooner.

Leave a review and tell me what you think.

**~Acacia Rose Masen**


	5. Truth Discovered

**Author's Note: **I went back and edited chapter four because when I finished it, I immediately posted without editing. I know it's been a long wait but here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy. Leave a review.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything Twilight or New Moon related. I only own Aria and the Marshall family.

* * *

**The Guardian Swan**

**Chapter Five: Truth Discovered**

I stared at my sister for a long moment.

"You're joking." I stated. My sister just looked at me in a knowing way. As if she knew that I was having a hard time believing what I had just been told. As if this must have been a normal reaction. I shook my head. "No. because then that would mean… and you would have been… and that means that that Laurent guy…"

At this point I had gotten up and was pacing the length of the room we were in. The study, my grandfather's study, I absentmindedly thought.

"Aria, I'm not lying. But you know that. Don't you?" Bella asked me in a quiet voice.

And I did know that. Bella was telling the truth. No doubt about that. Like I said she could only lie when she was protecting someone other than herself.

"You're telling me that vampires are real. That the Cullens are vampires. That that guy in the meadow? That he was a vampire too."

"Yeah." Bella said like I should have just accepted all this by now.

"But the Cullens… they only drink animal blood. Laurent didn't. And apparently Vampires don't burn in the sun. They sparkle." Despite it all, I couldn't help but snort. Sparkle really? How intimidating. "They don't sleep in coffins; they don't sleep at all. Have I got all that?" I asked her a touch sarcastically.

"They're also inhumanly strong and fast. They have incredible hearing and eyesight. Only a vampire can kill other vampires."

"Great. That's wonderful. That means once Laurent manages to lose those overgrown wolves he'll be coming after us." I asked.

I knew I was being impossible and sarcastic but come on! Who would be all calm and accepting when hearing all of this?

"That's seems about right." Bella said.

I took a moment to really look at my sister. Bella looked as if she was in her element. And maybe she was.

"So you're boyfriend… he was a vampire… great. Just fantastic."

Bella didn't even bother responding to me. She knew it was a rhetorical question.

"They don't age." I looked back over to her to see she was staring absentmindedly out the window. "Once someone becomes a vampire, whatever age they… die… they stay that way forever. I wanted to become one of them. I wanted to be with Edward forever. I thought that maybe he wanted that too. There was an accident, on my birthday. I had gotten a paper cut from opening one of the gifts. Jasper – one of Edward's brothers – he's new to this way of life. It wasn't his fault… Not really. It must be harder for him because of his extra ability… Anyway, I ended up crashing into the table where the glass plates were. My arm had a gash in it. It was bleeding. Nothing too major. I ended up chasing six vampires from their own home. Only Carlisle, whose never tasted a drop of human blood, was able to stay calm. That was the night, I believe, that Edward must have realized I wasn't worth the trouble. The whole family left. Only Edward stayed behind to tell me good-bye. And that they wouldn't bother me anymore."

I had taken my seat somewhere in the middle of this tale. I closed my eyes and took several calming breaths. I thought back on all she said and decided I didn't want to deal with the fact that Bella apparently wanted to become one of the Cullens. I would save that for when I was alone. Something that she said about Jasper did catch my attention.

"What did you mean about his extra ability?"

"What?" Bella questioned turning away from the window.

"You said their diet must have been harder on Jasper because of his extra ability. What extra ability?"

"Oh," Bella said with a look of comprehension overcoming her face, "Sometimes when a person becomes a vampire they are born with a special ability or super power. For example, Edward told me that Jasper was very charismatic as a human. When he became a vampire he was able to manipulate the emotions of others. He can… "calm an angry mob" or "motivate a lethargic crowd"… of course the down side is not only can he manipulate those emotions he feels those emotions of others on top of his own."

"It must suck when he is around a lot of people. And other vampires… Is that what you meant?"

Bella smiled, "I imagine that Jasper not only feels his own thirst but that of his family as well."

"Huh. So what about the other Cullens? Did they have extra abilities as well?"

Bella hesitated for a moment but then nodded her head.

"Not all vampires have a "super power" just a heightened sense that could manifest that way. Do you get what I'm saying?" At my nod she continued, "Esme was a really loving person in her human life and in her vampire one. She will do anything for those she loves. Carlisle was compassionate in his human life and when he became a vampire he was determined to preserve the lives of humans. He has this super self control… according to Edward and his siblings. Carlisle calls it years and years of practice."

Bella paused for breath and then continued with her explanations.

"All vampires are beautiful but Rosalie, Edward's sister, is the most beautiful of vampires. Emmett, Edward's other brother, is stronger than all other vampires."

"Wow. What about Alice and Edward?"

"Alice… well she can't remember her human life. Her past. Ironically enough, she is able to see into the future."

"Amazing." I commented.

"Yeah. Edward's able to read people's minds." Bella said simply.

"Read people's minds?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah. He could hear people's thoughts. According to Carlisle, when Edward was a human he was so in tune with other people. He was able to read them easily. Edward told me that it was extremely difficult to be around large groups of people when he had just been turned. Well… after he learned to control his bloodlust. He said it was like someone had turned on multiple radios and tuned them in to different stations inside his head."

All I could do was nod at this information.

"That must have been annoying." I muttered.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked me, her head tilting to the side.

"Edward hearing all of your private thoughts." I answered.

"He couldn't hear my thoughts." Bella replied smugly.

"What do you mean?" I parroted back her earlier question.

"We don't know why. We never really figured it out but Edward was never able to hear my thoughts. It was weird because Alice was always able to see my possible future and Jasper was able to use his power on me. Edward said it was possible that my mind was on a different frequency than the one he was picking up. I was always worried there was something wrong with my mind."

"He hears voices in his head… and yet you're the one who's worried that something's wrong with you?" I asked her incredulously.

Bella froze for a second and grinned back at me sheepishly.

"What?"

"It's just… Edward said nearly the same thing when I first found out about all of that…" She responded.

"Oh." I said quietly. That was weird, not sure how to feel about that. "So… anything else you think I should know?"

Bella thought for a moment before, "Edward sort of couldn't read dad's mind."

"Really? What do you mean sort of?"

"I mean that his thoughts were muffled. He could make out the emotions behind his thoughts… the tone I guess you could say. But unless he was solely concentrating on dad's thoughts then he wouldn't be able to tell exactly what he was thinking."

"Interesting." I proclaimed.

"Yeah."

"Think Edward would have been able to hear my thoughts?" I asked mindlessly. It took me a moment to realize what I had said and instantly regretted it. I bit my bottom lip as I looked at my sister. To my utter relief Bella didn't look upset, merely thoughtful as she pondered my question.

"I'm not sure… I mean it's definitely possible that your mind could be anywhere from Charlie's muffling to my silence. We are family after all. And Edward had met my mother. He was able to hear her thoughts, clear as day. It was definitely something that we get from our father if that's the case." Bella mused.

I was about to respond when my cell phone went off. I jumped a bit before I pulled the device from my back pocket. I looked at the screen which showed Dad's name and cell number.

"Who…" Bella started to ask when I answered the phone also answering her question.

"Hey Dad. What's up?" I asked.

* * *

I watched as Aria answered the phone. As Dad talked to her. I was getting extremely worried because I could see her eyes widen and her skin paling so fast it was almost the same shade as mine.

"Ari?" I muttered.

My younger sister's eyes snapped up to meet mine. She held up her hand, cautioning me to wait as she finished up her conversation with our father.

"Come on we have to go." Aria said as soon as she hung up and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

"Aria, what's going on?"

"You remember Dad's friend, Harry Clearwater?" At my nod she continued. "He had a heart attack earlier today. They have him stabilized. For now. This isn't the first time he's had health problems concerning his heart. The doctors are hoping he'll be okay but…" Aria gave me a look that said that the doctors were hoping in vain.

"Where are we meeting Dad?" I asked.

"Well Dad's at the hospital with Sue and Leah but Seth is at a friend's house here in town. He asked if we could go and pick him up and bring him to the hospital."

* * *

The next two weeks seemed to pass by in a blur.

Harry Clearwater was able to hold out for five more days. But his heart was too weak and he didn't want to have machines be the ones who worked his lungs and his heart for him. He had the doctors pull him off life support and ended up passing peacefully in his sleep. Sue was completely lost. Charlie and I were actually the ones that helped her out the most. Dad with his experience with Mom. Me with my recent experience with… Edward…

Aria spent most of her time helping out Seth and Leah – when she would actually let anyone help her.

Leah would run off saying she wanted to be alone on most days and rage and scream at people on others. She never blew up at her mother or brother. But everybody else was fair game. Surprisingly, after a few days, Aria also was one that Leah stopped having a go at when she was angry. It was a shocking to everyone but me. Aria was really good at helping people. And she really dedicated herself with trying to help Leah.

She never said but I had a feeling Aria employed her special tactics when Leah decided to take out her anger on her. Leah was nowhere near done grieving for her father but it was a start.

Seth was, understandably, upset. His father was his hero.

The poor kid was shocked when Aria and I went to pick him up from his friend's house. This of course was totally understandable.

I know I would react that way if something happened to our dad. Charlie was resilient. I honestly don't know what I would have done without all his help after Edward left…

* * *

Being on the Reservation was different than being in Forks.

Nobody there really knew what I had been through. I suppose they heard rumors but they never saw the effects of what Edward's leaving had done to me. So they really weren't surprised by either how pale I was or how much better I was getting.

One of the people I was able to catch up with on one of the many visits over to Sue's place was Jacob Black. I had heard from Charlie who had heard the whole thing from Billy that Jacob was going through a tough time and trying to find his way. But honestly it looked to me that Jacob was fine.

I was a little surprised at how pleased I was to see him. Jacob was a naturally happy person and I gravitated towards him because of his bright and friendly personality. Of course when Jacob met Aria, they hit it off pretty well. They both had a thing for cars and motorcycles. Instant conversation for the two. If I didn't know better I would have to say that Jacob was over her crush on me and had moved on to my little sister.

Aria really didn't appreciate the teasing I gave her for that. She insisted they were only friends, nothing more.

I was teasing her as we were taking the long way out of the Reservation that I saw them. Aria was driving and just so happened to look her way and out towards the cliff.

* * *

"Aria! Stop the car!"

"What? Why?" Aria exclaimed not knowing why I wanted her to but slowing down non-the-less.

"Did you just—did you see—he just jumped! Off the cliff! He jumped off the cliff!" I yelled as I quickly got out of the car.

"Why didn't they stop him? We have to call somebody for help!" I exclaimed.

Aria, who at this point was looking at me with an amused expression on her face, just chuckled.

"Aria! What—

Stifling another chuckle, Aria said, "Bella. It's all right. They're just cliff diving. Watch."

And I did.

And I had never wanted to do anything more than I wanted to cliff dive.

"We have to try that."

"Weren't you the one who just wanted to call for help for that guy?" Aria asked while giving me a strange look.

"Well, now that I look at it. It seems like it could be fun. I always loved water parks anyway…" I admitted lamely. In truth the three times I had been to water parks had been good. So I wasn't really lying to her.

"Uh huh." Aria muttered, not looking convinced in the slightest.

I gave her my best pleading look. I knew I shouldn't be attempting something dangerous but I desperately wanted to hear Edward's voice again. Ever since the confrontation with Laurent I had not been able to shove that name back into the box that I had contained it in for all those months. All that hard work ruined.

That was another thing that I had been putting off. Laurent and Victoria. What was I going to do about them? It's not like I could do much of course… but still…

They were out there and they were dangerous. And the Cullens were nowhere to be found. Those two were going to kill me and there would be nobody to stop him from carrying out their plan.

* * *

"I can NOT believe you did that! You were supposed to wait until I got Jake so that we can do this stupid cliff diving thing. But no! You just had to go! By yourself! From the very top! What were you thinking? If Jake hadn't gone in after you…. You could have died, Isabella!" Aria ranted at me as we got into our home later that evening.

I was barely listening to her though. I had heard his voice again. I had heard it as he pleaded with me to stop. That cliff diving was too dangerous and that I shouldn't even be attempting this. I told him good-bye. This was the last stupid and reckless thing that I would be doing (except for riding my bike) and it was my final good-bye. I would probably never get to have closure with the real Edward but this was as close as I was going to get. I refused to dwell on that part of my life anymore. I would always love him but that part of my life was over. I could never bring him back if he didn't want to stay. I wouldn't want him to.

"Bella are you even listening to me?" Aria asked me exasperatedly.

By this time we had reached the kitchen and I had automatically sunk into one of the chairs around the table. Before I could respond we heard a car come to a screeching halt from outside, a door slamming shut and then our doorbell ringing.

"What in the world?" Aria exclaimed as she walked back out into the hall. I slowly got up and followed her.

I was halfway across the kitchen when I heard my sister answer the door.

"Hello? Can I help you?"

"Yes. I'm looking for Charlie Swan." I could faintly here the person on the other side of the door speak.

"Oh. Um, he's not here at the moment. I'm not sure when he'll be back…" Aria trailed off.

"Aria? Who's at the door?" I called just as I rounded the corner.

"Bella?" The very familiar voice of someone I thought I would never see again asked a bit incredulously.

I froze for a few seconds before I managed to gasp out, "Alice?"

Then everything went black.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well there's chapter five. This is actually one of my shorter chapters (word count). Sorry if things seemed a bit choppy – especially towards the end. Things should be speeding up now. And we're a little more than half-way through with this story. Leave a review and tell me what you thought about this chapter.

**~Acacia Rose Masen**


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